Canned Music is an upgrade from the can and string “walkie talkies,” using a metal can to capture the vibrations from your voice and a piezo buzzer to electrically transmit the vibrations. It can be your own electronic microphone, giving your voice a hollow quality with a bit of an echo. You can change the sound of the voice output by adding things inside the can, like stainless steel sponges. Experiment toget the exact sound you want. The name comes from the late 1800s. Thomas Edison built a phonograph so people could play recordedmusic at their homes. The music was stored on rotating cylinders that were played on his phonograph. They got the nickname “canned music.” The sound is picked up by the piezo buzzer at the bottom of the can and transmitted into an amplifier and then headphones for you to hear.

When in the field, I usually cut a pair of headphones to carry the electrical signal to an amplifier. For this project we are going to usealligator clamp jumper cables. It will work a lot better. The piezo buzzers can be found in alarm clocks, VCRs, stopwatches, handheld games, or bought at a store. Normally, they buzz or vibrate when electricity is sent through them. You can use them in a reverse way. They can feel vibrations (in an object) and turn that into an electrical signal. Any good spy has a collection of these around. We’ll use these again in the Glass Ear.

Tools:

*MP3 player with a record function. *(optional) rubber hammer

Steps:

1. Empty the soup can, and make sure it is clean and dry. Some minestrone or a nice bisque would go perfectly with this build.2. Remove the plastic around your piezo buzzer (if there is some). Get some help from an adult. Be careful not to cut yourself or the wires.3. Tape the buzzer to the bottom of the soup can. 4. Connect the red and black wires to the two connection points of your male audio plug with the alligator cables. You mightneed to unscrew the cover to find them. If you don’t have alligator cables you can use anything that conducts electricity.5. Insert the audio plug into your headphone jack of your MP3 player, then hit record and speak into the can.

These are some optional steps to make it sound better/different:

6. Stretch out a stainless steel sponge and then stuff it inside the can. The steel will interfere with the sound vibrations and create a cool effect.7. Add a sink drain basket over the opening. Some will fit perfectly. Others will have to be hammered in or glued. This will again interfere with the sound vibrations.8. When your hands are on the can, they dampen some of the vibrations and can make your recording hard to hear. To change this you can use an embroidery hoop. You can isolate the can and improve the quality by suspending the can inside anembroidery hoop and hold it in place with elastic rubber bands. Hold the Canned Music by the embroidery hoop when you speak into it

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